Environment: Fin whale sunk — with nine tons of concrete

With the carcass of a 53-foot fin whale now anchored 300 feet below the surface of San Juan Channel, local scientists are formulating plans to monitor its decay.

With help from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the technology of the University of Washington Laboratories in Friday Harbor, the whale's death provides a rare opportunity to record the circle of life on the floor of the Salish Sea, said Dr. Rich Osborne, science curator of The Whale Museum.

Though the whale's final resting spot is deep, it's not too deep for the Labs’ underwater remote video camera (ROV) to keep track while the carcass decomposes, Osborne said. And it has given field study a new meaning for local marine biologists.

Scientists performed a necropsy two weeks ago after the whale was found floating off the west side of Orcas Island. They suspect it died from a collision with a large ship. Tissue samples taken during the necropsy may tell when the 40-ton creature was killed.

"It was hit by a ship, there's no question about it," Osborne said. "It was a young, healthy whale. There's only some blubber and a few tissue samples missing from it."

It took nine tons of concrete and the cooperation of the Army Corps of Engineers to sink the fin whale carcass. The crew of the Corps' MV Puget used a 104-foot barge and 70-foot boom to tow the carcass from a spot near Shaw Island, where it had been secured following the necropsy, to San Juan Channel near Rocky Bay.

Blocks of concrete highway barriers were strapped to the carcass. What took several days to arrange was over in minutes when the whale was dropped.

The operation went as smoothly as could be expected, said Albert Shepard, the museum's curator.

"It's nice to have the right tools for the job," said Shepard, who joined the Corps' crew, along with Osborne and Dr. David Duggins, U.W. Labs marine technologist.

Although the "whale-drop" is a rare opportunity for local scientists, it is the fourth whale the Corps's crew has performed. So far this year, three dead whales have turned up on the bows of ships entering ports in the Northwest, two in Puget Sound and one in the Columbia River. The whale found off Orcas Island is the fourth fatality that scientists believe is a result of a collision with a ship.

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